ON Files, Lot 60 D 641
Memorandum of the Secretary of State’s Press and Radio News Conference, Wednesday, August 24, 1949, 2 P. M.1
No. 33
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Yugoslav-Russian Exchange of Notes
A correspondent said that the recent exchange of notes between Yugoslavia and Russia had given rise to some fears in the Balkans that there might be hostilities in the offing. Asked to comment, the Secretary declined but said that this Government was following this exchange with great interest. He said that we have no comments to make on the general political significance but that he would think that if the Communist parties in the United States and other parts of the world were troubled by any degree of intellectual honesty—which he said was not the case—they might have some difficulty in reconciling the notes from Moscow with the talk about the Russian peace offensive. The Secretary added that, of course, they would try to make out that this rattling of the saber from Moscow was really the cooing of the dove, but he said that the dove seemed to have a somewhat sore throat.2
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- The memorandum was prepared by Paul Lincoln White, Executive Assistant to Michael J. McDermott, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State (Press Relations).↩
- At his next press conference on August 31, the Secretary of State was asked if he had any opinion on the developments on the borders of Yugoslavia involving the alleged movements of Soviet armed forces. The Secretary observed that the Department was watching the developments closely, and he remarked that some of them appeared to be taking place with a sort of calculated publicity. The Secretary felt that the whole series of developments appeared to be part of the war of nerves which had been going on for some time. In answer to a question of whether any consideration was being given to permitting shipments of arms to Yugoslavia, the Secretary stated that so far as he knew no request had been made for arms (ON Files, Lot 60 D 641).↩